will I suppose now come, and
means will easily be found of having _that_ said to him which may
be necessary, whatever it may be.

One great doubt in my mind has been the mode of bringing the thing
into regular shape. In the case of two really independent kingdoms,
like England and Scotland, an union was as much matter of treaty as
an alliance between either of them and Austria and Prussia, but
here the kingdoms are inseparably annexed to each other, and the
legislatures only are independent. The King cannot, therefore, by
commission or full powers, authorize two sets of his subjects to
treat with each other concerning the mode in which he shall
hereafter govern his two kingdoms.

The manner in which _the Irish propositions_, as they were called,
were brought forward in 1785, was in my mind the most objectionable
part of that whole measure, and that which most contributed to its
failure. The scheme which has occurred to me in the present
instance is that the King should, by Order in Council in each
kingdom, refer it to a Committee of Council in each, to consider of
the means of an union, referring to them at the same time some
general sketch like that which I now enclose to you, or possibly a
little more detailed. Towards the conclusion of the business, it
might perhaps be necessary that the King should order a part of his
Irish Committee of Council to come over to confer with the British
Committee on any points of difficulty; and if at last the two
Committees can be brought to agree on one plan, _that_ might by the
King be submitted to the consideration of Parliament in both
kingdoms, and then passed all together, in one Bill, as in the case
of the Scotch Union.

You will observe in this plan which I now send, the particular care
taken not to alter the present rights of election, nor to give into
any theory of uniting small boroughs into sets, and leaving cities
as at present, in order to equalize, as it is called, the
representation of Ireland. This I consider as the corner-stone of
the whole building. If once we touch this, Parliamentary Reform
rushes in upon us here and in Ireland; and, as my friend Condorcet
said, "from thence to the establishment of a complete republic, the
transition will be short indeed."

In better times, if w